


Crawling Back to You

by sunshineharry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: ABO, Alpha Harry, Alpha Liam, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Harsh Weather/Conditions, Homeless Louis, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Nesting, Omega Louis, Scenting, harry saves louis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 10:26:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13385883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshineharry/pseuds/sunshineharry
Summary: The world is in shambles after the destruction of common order. Anarchy quickly arose, and every man was left to fend for himself. Natural selection quickly took place, weeding out omegas and weakening the alphas. Louis is fierce; the chances of an omega surviving on his own as long as he has is slim to none.When Harry finds him, everything changes.





	Crawling Back to You

Louis has been known to be a man of unrest. He's scrappy and small, yet he's quick and agile. He's got the face of an angel, but the ferocity of a lion. No one can tame him; especially not an alpha.

A couple of decades ago a great war happened, wiping out entire cities and dismantling the government, forcing everyone into an anarchy. Louis knows that some communities have sprouted and formed militias and mini-governments, but he knows never to venture close to the perimeter of these communities, as the militias are full of fierce alpha men who go mad around omega hormones.

Even though omega population is low, lower than it's ever been, Louis knows that if he were to be found by any alpha, he'll die. They're insatiable, and they'll go ballistic on him. He can't trust them.

With only the shirt on his back and the tattered, mud-ridden jeans he'd been wearing from the strangely fully stocked abandoned house he'd come across years ago, Louis had made it across a vast majority of the United States of America.

Louis had originally been from the UK, but managed to sneak on a British ship as it made it's voyage to the East Coast of America. He's never had a destination in mind, he just wanted a new area to discover, seeing as the U.K. is small and densely populated.c

No matter, Louis trekked through the rain and shine. Sometimes snow, but he managed to avoid it at all cost, making sure to stay south during the cold months.

Of course, Louis had run into his fair share of Alphas, but only ever lone alphas. These types of alphas are either brutal and massively stronger than average pack alphas, or weak and skimpy from lack of nutrition and the touch of an omega.

It annoyed the hell out of Louis that alphas and omegas need each others touch to survive. Louis had no option but to deal with the shakes that rocked him at night and the constant paranoia that accompanied the absence of someone to protect him. Louis can protect himself, he's a big boy, but much like how the use of certain drugs can riddle even daredevils with paranoia, he gets scared as well.

Don't even mention heats to Louis.

Just imagine being so turned on that you feel the need to shove a tree branch into your ass. Of course, the couple times Louis has thought about doing this, he also realized that if he followed through then he'd have a real stick up his ass.

At this point, Louis is located somewhere near the Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately for him, winter is rapidly approaching and he's still much more north than he'd hoped to be. Cold, frigid nights chilled him to the bone, forcing him to shift into his wolf form to use his thick coat of fur to protect him from gusting winds and freezing rain.

The sun had begun setting as Louis trekked on, his hands tucked into his armpits to keep them warm. As the night grew darker and colder, Louis began looking for a place to sleep.

Lucky for him, he found an old rickety house just by the side of the road. Louis hustled to it, knowing that the walls would break the wind and he'd be able to sleep in a bit more comfort than normal.

Louis stepped through the threshold and into the house, quickly noting that a worn blanket rested in a heap on the corner of the room. He grabbed the blanket and pulled it around his shoulders, taking in the scent of the blanket draped over him. It had a distinct smell, one that could only be classified as alpha, but it was definitely not prominent, meaning Louis had no worries that anyone was near him.

He drifted upon a slightly used candle with no lighter and, in the kitchen, a quarter of a loaf of break and some peanut butter.

When he saw this, he immediately jumped and looked behind him. The bread wasn't anywhere near stale, and Louis knew that this meant company.

But Louis was exhausted. He noted that the windows had a thin sheen of frost on them, but he refused to leave. He took the bread and peanut butter as he walked up the stairs. Sating his undying hunger would bring Louis some relief to his constantly aching belly.

Upstairs, Louis found two beds. Both smelled strongly of Alpha, which was what Louis was expecting. Louis looked around before sitting down on the bed, a screech screaming from the bed frame.

The bed continued to squeak as Louis put more and more weight on it, but once Louis was on, he felt like he was on a cloud. Of course, with this amazing feeling, Louis let the idea go that he'd be sleeping with one eye open.

It was fine until it wasn't.

And he woke up in a sweat, his whole body writhing under the heat.

And oh god what a heat. It's his goddamn heat.

Louis wiped his forehead with his palm, sweat slicking up the back of his hand. He kicked the blanket down and flopped on his back.

Slick came pouring out of his hole at this point, as it always does during his heats. All he wanted was a knot.

"Fuck, fuck," He whines.

Of course, at this time, he heard a growl from downstairs. And boy, was he screwed.

Louis shut his eyes, squeezing them together as he thought up a solution. He had no way to exit without confronting whomever was in the house, so the only thing he could do was hide.

He slowly rolled out of the bed and slid under the bed frame, hoping to god he had been quiet enough.

He had, but his scent was strong and the alpha's want was stronger. From where Louis was laid, he could see the feet of everyone on the floor. He could see the man's dirty, bare feet at the doorway.

Louis' hole was still producing slick at an alarming rate, and as the scent of an alpha grew closer, whines began creeping up the omega's throat.

"Liam!" The alpha's deep voice called.

"Harry, what's that smell?" the other man, who Louis just noticed was in the house, yelled.

"Omega. Jesus."

Liam appeared at the doorway, taking a big gulp of air.

"Holy shit, you're right, how could it be an omega? We haven't seen one in years!"

"Omega, we know you're in here, please come out. We won't hurt you," The first guy said.

It was quiet for a moment, Louis stopped breathing so he could be even more quiet.

"Omega. Out here, now,"

Of-fucking-course the alpha would use his alpha tone on him, forcing him out of his hiding spot. He hated alpha voices. the few times he's forced to fight alphas, many times he noticed how they forgot how to even use them. But not this guy.

His body began to move on its own accord, whines ripping from his throat. He finally got a good look at the guys standing in front of him. One had deep brown hair, a shade or two darker than his own. The man stood at a good six-and-a-half feet, the other one standing beside him only a few inches shorter.

"We're taking you back to our pack to decide what to do with you, but we can't let you live alone any longer. With you in our pack our alphas will be stronger than any others, even being near an omega will take them out of the deep depression they've been in,"

Louis whimpered at the man, his head bowed and legs shaking. Harry clenched his jaw at the omega's weakness, wanting so badly to help him.

He did the next best thing, sweeping him off his feet and carrying him down the stairs as Liam followed quickly behind.

"I'm Harry, and that's Liam. What's your name, little omega?"

The omega dug his head into the alpha's neck, scenting him over and over as his want for an alpha's knot grew increasingly stronger.

"Speak up, omega." His deep alpha baritone spoke, making it so Louis was forced to tell him.

"Louis," he breathed before pressing himself right back into the alpha's neck.

They had finally exited the house, the deep cold chilling Louis to the bone even though he was burning hot.

Liam started up the car and Harry slid into the passenger seat with Louis still in his lap. He knew it would only be dangerous if he buckled him in to the back, he'd go absolutely insane trying to get to the alpha's in front of him.

"You're a furnace, omega." Harry noted as Louis' temperature only continued to rise.

Louis didn't know why, but he somewhat trusted the alpha holding him. On one hand using his alpha voice from time to time is angering Louis, but on the other hand the alpha continued to cuddle him and let Louis scent him without jumping Louis' bones.

The drive took around a half hour, the first thing Louis saw upon entrance was a gate, then a bunch of teepee-like structures and cabins scattered along the dirt road. When Louis had managed to peel his face away from the alpha's neck, he caught sight of alpha's heads swinging around as the car passed. He could see the dangerous looks on some of their faces. Actually, now that he's paying closer attention, most of their faces.

Louis whines again before digging back into Harry's neck, the alpha shushing him and running his fingers through his hair.

"Liam, lock the doors. The omega is scared,"

The doors make a clicking noise and he knew they were locked, but it still didn't comfort him in the least. He knew the other Alphas are watching, waiting for the right time to strike.

\- 

A headache has been pounding in his head since he'd come out of the stupor that was his heat. Luckily, though, dehydration wasn't a problem for him this time around. The civilization he's in now is well equipped with clean water and food, and he'd been lucky enough to receive these necessities during this time. Normally, during his heats he'd be forced to wait it out, unable to physically get himself up and moving to forage for these necessities. He's so grateful, but at the same time, he has no idea what the intentions of this pack is. 

He's received great hospitality, though, so he believes they must not be too evil. But that's also how they reel you in, so. 

"Okay, so, we should probably get you settled in!" Niall, a bubbly alpha whom Harry had directed to escort Louis around, said.

He swung the kitchen door open, the first thing they see is a group of Alphas skinning game. Louis grimaces at the sight of a bloodied rabbit, the fur carcass laying beside the skinned animal. Niall slaps one of the men on the back.

"How's it going, Darrel?" Niall smiles at the other, more intimidating, Alpha.

"Not so great, game's realized we're here to eat. Animals are migrating as far away from here as possible," He gruffs, looking to the Omega. 

His scent overpowers the room, for the simple fact that they've never smelled anything like it in years, "Who's this?" Darrel says.

All eyes are on Louis, always have been. Heads had immediately turned when the door had slammed open. 

Louis curled into himself. He has a backbone, he swears, but he's not been face to face with an Alpha that didn't want to either kill or kidnap him since he'd become a lone wolf.

And now that he's thought of that, has he been kidnapped? Is that what this is? They obviously don't have malicious intent, and he wasn't taken completely against his will. He'd like to think that had he had the choice of going with the Alphas in the (not quite) abandoned house, then he would've gone. He was starving, for Pete's sake. But at the same time, he had been dragged away. 

He's confused, okay?

"That's the Omega Harry brought over a week ago, the one we could smell from miles away," Another guy says.

Could they really smell him from miles away? Jesus, he should've tried harder at masking his scent. Obviously they would've been able to smell him, scent glands open up during heat to ensure mating. God, he's so dumb. 

"Hey, hey, hey, he's right here. Let's be nice," Niall says.

"Jus' statin' the facts, brother." The man says.

Niall looks back to Louis, looking up and down his body. Louis scoots away, uncomfortable, until Niall smiles and says, "We need some meat on those bones, come on, we've got some jerky we've been savin' all winter, just in case,"

Niall smiles, taking off toward the large cupboard in the corner of the room, "I don't want to, um, intrude," Louis says.

Niall turns around, face dropping, "No no! No way, you basically saved us. You're gonna save this pack!" 

Louis gives him a questioning look, "How?"

"Ever heard of touch starvation? Pack doctor's basically diagnosed all of us with it," He says, "When an Alpha or Omega is denied affection to another wolf of their opposite gender, they can get what's called 'touch starvation', which basically means that they haven't been shown affection in such a long period of time that their bodies begin shutting down," 

"Wow," Louis says.

"Yeah, you should probably see a pack doctor to make sure you're not suffering from it either," He says, "I've been showing symptoms, but nothing a good cuddle couldn't fix," He smiles.

Louis looks at Niall for a second before completely attacking him in a hug, "Woah, woah," Niall laughs.

"You've been so nice to me ever since I got here," Louis smiles, peeling himself away from the man.

"Appreciated," Niall laughs.

He opens the door to the pantry, pulling out a jar of jerky from one of the many shelves. Louis notices they're almost empty, immediately feeling bad for depleting their resources.

He doesn't say anything, though. Maybe they're running low because winter's almost over, but then he remembers what Darrel said. 

Niall takes them outside, leading him to one of the bigger buildings. The pack looked like a small, run down village. He wonders what the history of this pack is, if they found these buildings abandoned or if all the Omegas had simply disappeared in this is what they'd been left with.

The building is cold, like the other buildings they'd visited. Louis rubs his bare arms, still in the same clothing he'd arrived in, a thin long-sleeve and a scrappy pair of jeans.

"Yeah, there's no electricity so we try to keep the buildings well insulated and the doors closed, but you know how it is. The cold gets in no matter what," He laughs, "I'll talk to Harry about getting you some better clothes," 

Smiling, Louis nods. The Alpha at the reception desk has been looking Louis up and down since they got inside, and once again, he's uncomfortable. 

"Just giving him a tour," Niall says to the Alpha. He nods, eyes never leaving the boy. Niall pulls Louis toward the stairwell.

"This is basically just an apartment building, no real importance. I think you might be living here, I dunno though," Niall laughs, "Or maybe Harry'll keep you all to himself,"

Louis smiles, a little freaked out by Niall's words. From the little bit he's heard, Louis doesn't sound like he'll have much freedom. Yet, at the same time, why would he be getting a tour if he was never going to be alone?

They climb to the top of the building, opening up the door to the roof, "The reason you're up here is so I can kind of show you the map of the place, plus it's fun to people-watch from up here. I once had a bird's eye view to a huge Alpha fight, which was cool,"

Niall points to a lawn chair sat in the middle, "This is also my secret tanning spot, I love that beach-y glow, but obviously there're no beaches around here so," Niall takes them back downstairs, the Alpha is still staring at Louis to nobody's surprise.

Niall takes him to a more prevalent building in the village, decorated to perfection. It looked to be the only building that was either restored or was taken care of during the demise of regular humanity.

"This is the pack house, where all the higher-ups live. There's Harry, the head Alpha, Liam, his beta, and a few other important individuals," He says, "Like me," He pats Louis on the back, who laughs at Niall, gradually growing more fond of the boy.

"We're gonna take a tour of it, and then I'm gonna ask Harry what we're gonna do with you. All the officials are meeting up to discuss it right now, so," 

Once inside, Niall takes Louis to the kitchen, showing him the little stockpile they have in there as well as the gas-lit stove. Next, they visit Niall's room. Niall apologizes for the mess, of course. He shows Louis Liam's room, which is right next to his, and then Harry's room in 'the penthouse', which is just the top floor. Niall shows him where the pack doctor is located, and the locked up rooms designated for out-of-control Alphas, who're normally just Alphas in rut. Louis can smell the strong scent of them emanating from underneath the doors.

The door to the meeting room that Niall showed him opens up, Harry standing at the doorway, head turning to the two of them.

"Just who I was looking for, knew I could smell you nearby," He smiles slightly.

"Alpha, are you ready for us to come in?" Harry nods, motioning for them to come in, "Knew it, I timed that perfectly," Niall preens.

Harry pulls out the seat next to his own, which was at the head of the table. A few Alphas Louis didn't know were there along with a few familiar faces, those being Liam and the pack doctor.

"So I'm sure you're wondering why you're here," Harry begins.

"I told him a little bit, but I didn't go into too much detail," Niall says.

Louis takes a sip of his water, body curled into itself as all eyes laid on him. He'd never had a problem with it before, but he's never been in a situation like this before. He was always the center of attention as a kid, and now he couldn't stand it.

"Good, well, there are a few reasons you're here, actually," The pack doctor says, "I know you've seen a little of me because of your heat, but my name's Sven, and I deal with everything medical here. I haven't seen an Omega in a very long time, so it's dire that we get you proper treatment. I'm sure Niall touched on the subject of touch starvation?"

Louis nods, messing with the pulls in his shirt.

"A vast majority of our pack is suffering this starvation. For an Alpha, they normally become very rabid, making them a threat to the packs and a threat to themselves. In the twentieth century, shifting grew very unpopular, and even though the world's gone into anarchy, it's still pretty unpopular, at least in this pack. In very bad cases, Alphas can begin shifting into their wolf forms against their will, and many times they begin attacking similar Alphas because they see them as a potential threat. I've never experienced an Omega's starvation, but from what I've read, they can lose sight of reality. Alone, Omegas may not be able to care for themselves and pass away. Obviously, you're much stronger than other Omegas, but that doesn't mean you won't feel its effects. Omegas can experience sickness, like stomach and headaches. They may experience an Omega drop at times, meaning they'll basically faint in stressful situations. This isn't to be confused with Omega space, which only happens when an omega is one-hundred percent comfortable and safe. During the space, their body naturally starts killing toxins and producing new, healthy cells. Normally this happens after pregnancy,"

Harry interrupts, "This is exactly why we'll always keep someone with you at all times, to ensure your safety."

"We've also decided to have you spend time with a few different Alphas a day, to help cure and clear up some of their starvation. Even having your scent around them can help, so we'll use that to our advantage," Liam says, Niall nodding in agreement.

Louis immediately stiffens at this, "If these Alphas are basically feral, then why would I be left with them?" He wonders.

"I'll be with you at all times, you're our top priority," Harry says.

"Where will I stay?"

Heads turn to Harry, who answers seamlessly, "With me, for now. Just until I know you're safe, then we'll get you a room,"

Louis gulps, never having to sleep in the same vicinity as an Alpha.

"I think that concludes our meeting, you're free to leave. Niall, please stay with him. Have him back by sundown, if you decide to leave,"

"You got it," Niall replies

**Author's Note:**

> hi! please leave kudos and comments- they're great motivators!


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